solAbode in D.C.

October 1, 2009

Alberta students race to reassemble solar house

Team Alberta starts reassembling the SolAbode on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Early Thursday morning, Alberta’s solar home team joined 19 other university-led teams on the National Mall, in a race to assemble their high-tech, high-efficiency solar-powered homes built for the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon competition.

More than 800 student competitors from the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany will compete in the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Team Alberta includes students from the University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Mount Royal University and the Alberta College of Art + Design. It is the first all-western Canadian entry in the prestigious competition.

The international competition takes place on the National Mall from October 8-18 and will showcase high-efficiency, solar-powered homes that include the latest high-tech solutions and money-saving features.  The overall winner will be announced on Friday, October 16. This is the fourth time DOE has held the competition since 2002.

“More efficient buildings powered with renewable energy can and must play a major role in meeting the energy challenge, and these students will be at the forefront of that effort in the years ahead,” said United States Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu.  “They represent the next generation of clean energy pioneers and entrepreneurs, and are a great example of what American innovation can accomplish.  If you’re wondering what a clean energy future looks like, I invite you to come see it for yourself on the National Mall.”

Mike Gestwick, a University of Calgary environmental design graduate student who led the first Team Alberta crew of a dozen students, staff and volunteers in an overnight shift to start assembling the 800-square-foot modular SolAbode home, says the shift went well. “We’re pretty well on schedule and where we wanted to be after six hours,” he says.

A challenging step in the assembly of Team Alberta’s solar home is unloading, from four flatbed semi-trailers, each of the home’s four modular units onto a heavy steel rail system that the entire house sits upon. Each of the modules must be carefully positioned on the rails and then all four modules are slid together and locked into place.

The team expects to complete this process by this weekend. Nearly 30 team members are working in three shifts round-the-clock on the National Mall to complete the house assembly and get its solar electrical and thermal (heating) systems up and running by Monday.

Homes will open to the public beginning on October 9 and will be open for tours through October 18. The Solar Decathlon includes 10 contests that evaluate the architecture, engineering, comfort, marketability, appliances, lighting, and other aspects of the teams’ houses.  The teams will have to perform everyday tasks, including cooking, laundry, and washing dishes, to test the energy efficiency of their homes.

This year’s 20 university-led teams were chosen two years ago through a competitive process.  Since then, teams have gathered their combined interdisciplinary talents to design and build the homes, but also to raise funds, furnish, outfit, decorate, and optimize the homes’ performance.  

To learn more about the teams and their homes, visit: www.solardecathlon.org/teams.cfm.

Follow Team Alberta's progress online at: www.solabode.ca.